


Hallowe'en

by nerdqueenenterprise



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Corn Mazes, Domestic Fluff, M/M, Trick or Treating, also hugh's niblings come over and they have fun, but also like... LOTS of fluff, general fall shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 15:29:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16478156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdqueenenterprise/pseuds/nerdqueenenterprise
Summary: Hugh and Paul and their first Hallowe'en on Earth!





	Hallowe'en

**Author's Note:**

> spooky halloween y'all!ヾ(◎o◎,,；)ﾉ

“So,” Hugh says, wrapping himself around his husband from behind. “Autumn-y things to do as recommended by my very own midwestern husband?”

Paul tries to bump him with his shoulder. “Go away, I’m not midwestern.”

“You’re midwestern in my _heart_ ,” Hugh replies sweetly.

“I’m literally from Boston, but okay, whatever you say.”

Hugh grins and nuzzles his nose into the neck of Paul’s turtleneck shirt, breathing him in. “That’s a lot more midwestern than me, so in my opinion you’re very midwestern.” He squeezes Paul’s stomach, laughing softly at the small sound of indignation Paul makes. “But you did say you would come up with things to do for autumn. And, well, it’s officially here, today is officially the beginning of the season, and I want to hear your ideas.”

Paul takes one of Hugh’s hand from his stomach and laces his fingers with Hugh’s, swaying gently with him.

“Nothing scary,” Hugh adds quickly.

“You’re a baby.”

“No, you just don’t have common sense. Nothing scary, Paul, only cute fun things.”

“A boring baby.”

“I don’t want fear, Paul, I want snuggles and handholding.”

“That’s gay.”

“Yep.”

Paul laughs, then, and kisses the knuckles of the hand he’s holding. “Alright. Pumpkin carving. Baking autumn-y cookies. Hiking. Fall picnics. Um… Baking autumn-y cakes. Snuggling. Uh.”

“Kissing?” Hugh suggests.

“Oh, yes, definitely, lots of fall themed kissing. How about going to a corn maze? That’s even a midwestern thing too. And, um, we could also make jam. There’s a ren faire somewhere around here in about a month. And if you do want to invite your niblings over, or your grand niblings, we could carve pumpkins with all of them or make these little animals out of matches and chestnuts and obviously we could collect the chestnuts first. There’s actually - Cheshire Park, you know the one, there are a lot of chestnut trees, and if we’re lucky there’ll also be enough of the edible chestnuts left from those trees that we could roast them later and eat them with pies which we could also make ourselves.”

Hugh squishes Paul gently. “Who would’ve thought you’re such a family man, huh? So I guess if we survive this autumn and winter together without setting the house on fire, we should get a kid of our own.”

Paul turns around to catch Hugh in a very inelegant kiss, beaming widely. “Thank you!”

“What, for wanting a kid too? Come on, you already knew that.”

They forget themselves in soft, mushy, smiling kisses for a while, because yeah, this is really happening: they’re building a home, and they’ll add a kid to it in the very foreseeable future.

 

 

 

 

“I think we should go to the corn maze on our own though. So we can kiss and hold hands and do all those things that make the kids scream,” Hugh says later, when they’re actually planning. “And then, on the weekend of the 14th and 15th, we can have the kids over. I love them, but I also want you all for myself too.”

Paul is snuggled into his side, with his hands wrapped around his favourite mug of tea. “So we go to the corn maze the weekend before. There’s actually - I think the website said something about a mulled wine tasting that you can do there too.”

“Oooh. And when’s the ren faire again?”

“Early November. First weekend in November, I think.”

“So we do the corn maze next weekend, then after that we do the kids’ weekend, and then we have one weekend to relax, then we celebrate Hallowe’en with my family at my parents’ place, and then the weekend after we go to the ren faire.”

“Where I hope you won’t fall for a dashing knight.”

Hugh tosses the PADD onto the coffee table and slings an arm around Paul. “The only dashing knight I will ever fall for is right here. And he wears… mushroom armour. That sounded a lot cooler in my head.”

“Mushroom armour. Right. God, why did I marry such a _weirdo_?”

“Love you too, mi cielo.”

 

 

 

That evening finds them both in bed, the room illuminated by a few candles and the faint glow of their PADDs while rain is pattering on the roof.

“I don’t know anything about pumpkin carving,” Paul admits into the warm silence between them. “I’ve never done it. I mean, I know how it works generally, but nothing after that.”

“We’ve figured out harder things.”

“Pumpkin carving is very important. Also, I think I might move my lecture on the Friday before kids’ weekend. I just asked the class whether they’d mind an 8 a.m. lecture, I want to have more time to prepare before our house gets wrecked.”

Hugh snorts. “Yeah, I can’t see a single flaw in your plan. 8 a.m. on a Friday, Jesus. Have mercy, Paul. Just cancel it if you want extra time, but putting it that early is just mean.”

“It’s not early. Just because you don’t like getting up early doesn’t mean everyone is like that.”

“They’re cadets, Paul. How did you like 8 a.m. classes in uni?”

“I loved them. You’ve got so much day time left! Hey, what’s your work schedule on that day?”

Hugh shoots off the last message to his mom before turning to Paul and grinning. “None. I’m off. My, uh, my lab on that Friday got moved to Thursday because of some… I think they’re building something, or renovating to room, and I’m don’t have anything at the hospital, so I’m going to sleep in.”

“So… if I were to cancel my lecture on Friday, we could sleep in together?”

“You mean I will sleep in and you will wake up at, what, 6 anyways and then lie there snuggling me, getting increasingly antsy and probably almost waking me up until you finally decide to read something and your hyperactive ass will let me sleep,” Hugh quips, voice warm.

“You love my hyperactive ass.”

Hugh leans against Paul, smiling as the bones in Paul’s shoulder dig into his skin. “Very much so, yes.” 

Their hands find each other and they both squeeze a little.

“I’m going to cancel my lecture, then. It’s not like the cadets will mind, and the lecture notes are already uploaded.”

 

 

 

 

 

“I kind of don’t want to go to sleep,” Paul whispers later, when the lights are off and all they know is warm darkness and the rain on the roof. He’s wrapped around Hugh’s back, their favourite falling asleep position for over ten years now, hands linked against Hugh’s stomach and their legs tangled.

Hugh mmhm’s but doesn’t reply. 

“Too comfy,” Paul explains, and he knows that that makes Hugh smile. “Come on, it’s our first autumn rain - actually, I think it might be the first rain in this house. We haven’t had it for so long, after all, and it was a rather dry summer. And… well, you know that when I grew up, my room was directly under the roof too, and it was a gable roof as well, and I always found that incredibly comforting. And very autumn-y.” He kisses Hugh’s bare shoulder. “Sorry, I should let you sleep. I’m just happy, Hugh.”

“I know. Me too.”

Paul kisses him again. “Go sleep. I love you.”

Hugh hums again and squeezes their hands.

“Also we should totally watch scary movies for Hallowe’en. Just saying. I’ll protect you from the ghosts.”

“Paul, I love you, but I’ve got a shift tomorrow starting at 7:30, let me sleep.”

_Smooch._

“Of course.”

 

 

 

 

It gets dark far more quickly now, and what used to be long evenings with wine and books and snacks in the garden have turned into candle-lit snuggles under a blanket with tea.

Or, in this case, into Hugh sitting alone under the blanket, watching Paul put up a ghost light chainoutside, wondering whether he should assist his husband and how high the probability of Paul injuring himself is.

Luckily, Paul returns unharmed, smiling happily about his ghost light chain.

“I take it back, that _does_ look good,” Hugh says while lifting the blanket up so Paul can snuggle back in with him. “Very spooky. Are you not going to do the front today?”

“Nope. Front is both of us together this weekend. I figure we won’t need two days for the corn maze. And no, you don’t have work to do on the weekend.”

“I kind of do…”

“Eh. Wouldn’t you rather decorate the house you have with your loving husband? Just wait until you see what I’ve got planned.”

“Oh, I’m scared now.”

Paul kicks his shoes off and tucks his feet under himself before tucking the blanket in properly as well. “I’ll protect you. Knight in ’shroom armour, remember?”

 

 

 

 

 

Paul went all out with Hallowe’en decorations. Hugh’s favourite is definitely the life-sized human skeleton, because as far as decorative skeletons go, this one is amazingly realistic. Also Paul makes funny sounds when he slaps him with its arm.

There are also a lot of spiders and cobwebs and pumpkin lanterns and bats and…

“Window paint?!” Hugh exclaims gleefully.

Paul laughs. “Glow in the dark window paint.”

“Oh, I think I might be in love with you!”

They’re both very adulty and professional while they decorate, with lots of laughter and silliness, and they have music on and there’s tea and the promise of baking cookies later and… this is their place. This is their home. They’re going to live here and celebrate holidays here and raise kids here and grow old here.

“Hold me,” Paul demands later, snuggling up against Hugh’s side as they admire their work. “Hmm. I think the spooky season can come. I think we’re prepared.”

Of course they both have a heart attack the next time they pass the skeleton early in the morning while it’s still dark.

 

 

 

 

Paul’s wrist is resting loosely on the steering wheel and he’s holding Hugh’s hand in his other hand while the scenery whips past, both of them singing along to the song on the radio. They haven’t passed a larger settlement in a while, but that’s alright, because the further they get into agricultural land, the closer they get to what was advertised to be ’the largest corn maze on the west coast’.

“Also, it’s close to Salem. Which I find pretty appropriate for a corn maze for autumn slash Hallowe’en,” Paul had said. 

The song ends and the car fills with comfortable silence. Hugh watches Paul drive, enjoying watching his features, the minute twitches of muscle.

“Paul?”

“Mh?”

The only thing better than this comfortable, happy silence is hearing Paul’s voice.

“I think I like you.”

Paul snickers. “Good for you.”

 

 

 

 

They arrive and the sky is a dark gunmetal grey with a hint of rain in the air and plenty of wind. Paul parks the car easily, far more neatly than Hugh will ever manage (even though he’s given up on getting his license and is comfortable jogging to work and showering there) and takes a moment to press a kiss to Hugh’s knuckles, enjoying that short moment of silence before stepping out into the parking lot full of children and big families.

Hugh sticks his hands into his jacket pockets immediately, because the gust of wind that hits him is quite a deal colder than he was prepared for

“Paul, it’s cold,” he tries once they’re walking side-by-side to the impressive hay bale gate that’s lined with pumpkins and fake candles.

“Yep!”

“You’re supposed to have pity and cuddle me,” Hugh complains jokingly.

Paul pulls him close and knocks his shoulder into Hugh on purpose. “Maybe we should have the mulled wine first, to warm you up on the inside.”

“You know, I might get drunk.”

“So we share the wines, one glass between us, and you’ll only be tipsy.”

Hugh’s hand worms its way into Paul’s jacket pocket, getting comfy there. “Alright. But if I get too drunk anyways, that’s your fault.”

 

 

 

 

They head over to the stand with mulled wine, Paul reluctantly letting go of Hugh once they have the first two glasses, each taking a sip too soon and then swearing because the drink is hot, then laughing because they were both just as impatient.

By the time they head over to the actual corn maze, Hugh is maybe a hint tipsy, but it’s not too bad, and he can just hold on to Paul’s hand and let himself be held and led. They have to be careful not to fall over the abundance of small children so bundled up they’re practically rolling rather than stomping in the mud, and the noise is a bit excessive. It seems like Hugh and Paul are really the only couple without at least one child.

Once they make their way into the maze, the noise lessens, until it’s eventually almost completely quiet except for the rustling of corn.

“So, Paul,” Hugh begins quietly. “I love going on walks with you but… what exactly is the point of the maze? I know there were… signs and stuff, but I was preoccupied with not falling over children.”

Paul snickers. “This one has candy in the middle. Or wherever the goal is. So you go in, you find your way to the middle, you gorge yourself on candy, you try and find your way out.”

“What if we get lost?”

“It’s not that big. At least I don’t hope so. Uh. If we get lost, we… we’ll… well, we didn’t take any of the safety badges that would allow them to locate us and get us out.”

“So we’ll have to die holding each other.”

Paul bumps into him with his shoulder again, making Hugh stumble into the row of cornstalks. “The knight in ’shroom armour will come to save you, my love.”

“Mhm, I’m a lucky guy.” Hugh winks.

“If you’re expecting me to kiss you now, I can’t do that. I have to wait until you’re in terrible peril and then swoop in to save you.”

“Well, I’m currently in the terrible peril of having to go unkissed. Save me, oh brave mushroom knight!”

Paul smiles and winds his fingers through Hugh’s scarf, pulling him closer, dropping his eyes to Hugh’s lips. They share a short, shaky breath of completely irrational excitement before Paul actually kisses him, exploring the texture of Hugh’s lips and sucking on them until Hugh makes a tiny, soft sigh and finally nudges their tongues together. They keep it soft and languid, enjoying the gentle touches that they know so well by now.

Then Paul pulls away with another giggle, warm fingers suddenly off Hugh’s neck and instead in front of his mouth. “Sorry, I just - mushroom armour. Mental image. Sorry.”

Hugh laughs as well, drawing him in for a wet kiss on his cheek before letting go again. “That’s why I said it. Now come on.” He tugs on Paul’s hand. “Less kissing, more candy finding!”

“I thought you _liked_ kissing,” Paul complains jokingly, falling into step next to Hugh.

“I like kissing even better when you taste of chocolate.”

“That’s disgusting.”

 

 

 

 

It’s incredibly peaceful to work their way through the maze, occasionally finding hollowed pumpkins or very un-scary scary scarecrows. The sky is grey and overcast and they lean against each other for little kisses and soft smiles and bits of conversation where they just need to look at each other.

They meet very few other guests, and also hear very little of them, so it really feels like they’re completely on their own.

Paul’s hand is warm around Hugh’s, and safe, and the biting wind is lessened by having him close. Well, not really, but it makes Paul’s hand feel warmer.

“I feel like this is the most romantic thing we’ve done in a while,” Paul admits to the sound of gravel crunching under their shoes. 

Hugh laughs softly. “Are you saying I don’t take you on enough dates?”

“I’m not saying that! But… no, you don’t. Not that I’m picking up the slack, either. Also… I guess fully moving to Earth, and all the stuff around the house and getting started at the academy… that took a lot out of us.” Paul squeezes his hand and looks at him. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to complain. I just… missed this. You know, the quiet, the way we just… are, together, with no worries, and we can just hold on to each other and enjoy being together. Does that make sense?”

“It does. And - I missed it too. I guess the next few weeks are going to be a bit busy, but… we should go on a proper romantic date afterwards. Maybe, um, to the theatre first and then… dinner, and walking home through the park.”

“I’d like that.” Paul makes a happy little breath and smiles at Hugh again. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m very excited to, you know, for all of this. It’s… a lot of new steps, I guess. I mean, when was the last time we had more than three rooms between us, right, and a completely different kind of ’honey, how was work?’, you know. And spending time with your family and with - well, there’s more to do here, of course, and - I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m talking about.”

“No, I know what you mean. It’s… good things.” Hugh squeezes Paul’s hand back. “Also hey, you get way more Hallowe’en themed candy on Earth.”

Paul grins. “Oh, I’m going to upset my stomach so badly. I’m going to be so sick.”

 

 

 

 

They find the centre, eventually, where there is indeed free candy, and more mulled wine to warm their fingers on. Also it’s already a little bit late, so there are a lot less people around, and they have a bit more calm and quiet.

“I keep trying to think of Hallowe’en puns to make you groan,” Paul says once they’ve settled down at one of the benches with mulled wine and candy. “But I actually can’t think of a single one.”

“That’s a first.”

“I’ll do better.”

Hugh grins and holds out his mulled wine for Paul to try. “I would say I could live without your atrocious sense of humour, but… I couldn’t, really.”

“Aww. True love.”

 

 

 

 

On the way back, the wind picks up quite a lot, and eventually it starts raining. Naturally, because they’re both adults who do a lot of foresighted planning, they both don’t have raincoats. Or waterproof jackets. Instead, they share a grimacing grin, pull up their shoulders and brace the cold and wet with their hands still safely interlinked.

“I swear we didn’t need this long getting in,” Paul says after a while, voice raised against the wind. “Hugh, I’m _cold_ and I require to be held. Immediately.”

Hugh scoffs. “Absolutely not. Also… fuck, I think we were here before.”

Paul pouts at him. “Snuggles of true love ward off the evil monsters of the corn maze that come out at night to prey on unsuspecting myceliologists, you know. Please don’t let me die, Hugh.”

He huffs in response. “The less time we spend snuggling, the faster we’re out of here and in our car, which has a heating.”

“Mhm, good point.”

“Also,” Hugh tugs Paul’s hand closer to him to press his face against it. Not that his skin is any warmer than Hugh’s, but it’s the thought that counts. “ _I’m_ the one who gets cold easily, not you. And I am cold. So. Please pity me.”

“I’ll pity you once - _eek!_ ”

The rain hits cold and at once and if Hugh had been speaking, he would’ve squealed as well. Instead, he just tries to pull up his shoulders even further and blinks his eyes against the water. “Let’s get back,” he says with a sigh.

 

 

 

 

Eventually, the entrance gate comes into view, and they both speed up their steps even further, then practically running out and to their car. Paul fumbles with the keys and then finally they hop into the back seat and very definitely slam the door closed against the weather outside.

“Well,” Hugh huffs, eyeing a very wet Paul. Aww, his hair is all flat.

“Let’s turn on the heating.” Paul does, and then begins shucking his jacket and sweater. “Good thing we both wore boots, otherwise we’d have cold feet as well. Even though…” He fixes Hugh with a questioning look, and Hugh grimaces.

“Yep, of course I have cold feet. But do you want to know a good thing?”

Paul shakes his hair out and combs through it with his fingers, leaving little droplets everywhere. “It can’t get much worse than this, so sure.”

Hugh gets rid of his jacket as well and smiles at his husband. “Remember the cookies we baked on Wednesday? Well, I… may have been hoping for the weather to go differently, but the plan wasto only barely save ourselves from the rain to in here, and then we could snuggle up with some blankets, tea and those cookies and enjoy a little… you know, rain pattering on the roof, both of us getting a little sleepy. And we got pretty wet, which wasn’t the plan, but the tea should still be hot, the cookies still delicious, and the blankets might be extra nice now.”

He looks back just in time to see a huge grin spreading over Paul’s face, and yep, that gives him butterflies.

“Did you say tea, cookies and blankets?” Paul scoots close to him suddenly, snuggling his very cold body against Hugh’s side. 

“I did.”

 

 

 

 

So they bundle up, each with a cup of tea and the cookies and they gradually warm each other and the rain drums on the roof of the car and the windows get a little foggy and for a while still the tips of Paul’s slightly longer bangs drip on Hugh’s shoulder.

Eventually the tea is drunk and the soft, warm, pumpkin spiced kisses are exchanged and they’re both dry and properly sleepy and snuggly, so Paul switches on the autopilot to take them out of the parking lot and home.

They both fall asleep on the backseat and wake up several hours later, sore all over and pretty glad to be home. 

And yet, even though they were so surprised by the rain and the cold, they still put up a few selfies on the pinboard because it had still been very enjoyable.

 

 

 

 

Paul makes a bit of a show dumping the grocery bags on the counter, undoubtedly to make Hugh notice and then comment on how much candy he got. Hugh prefers to eye Paul from under his lashes and look away as soon as Paul turns towards him.

A whole lot of candy wrapper-crinkling later, Paul turns on the water cooker, and finally he comes over to the couch, setting two steaming mugs down on the table.

Hugh smiles at him, and then that smile morphs into a bit of a smirk. “Paul, are you sure we have enough candy in the house to feed both all the kids from my family and any potential trick-or-treat’ers _and_ my very own candy destroyer?”

Paul smacks his knee and gets comfortable on the couch, opposite Hugh so Hugh can wiggle his toes under Paul’s butt to warm them. “You could’ve helped me to carry all of that in, you know. You have like… 99 percent of the biceps in this household.”

Hugh flexes the aforementioned biceps and grins back. “I feel rather weak today… Maybe because I didn’t sample enough candy yet?”

“Seriously?!”

“Oh, come on, Paul, don’t tell me you don’t want to as well. Go! Go get some!” Hugh pokes him in the butt with his toes until Paul heaves another groan and actually gets up to get a bowl of sweets.

Somehow, oddly enough, they don’t need dinner that day. 

 

 

 

 

“Uncle Paaaaaul!!!”

That’s about as much warning as Paul gets before his legs are viciously assaulted by a toddler that’s about the same speed and weight as a cannonball. The only indication he has that this is not a cannonball is that his attacker is wearing a pretty red jacket, a red, slightly glittery cape, and a woven basket that gets abandoned moments before its owner’s hands wrap around Paul’s legs. Then his pants get a lovely print of a face paint ladybug before Hugh’s niece gives him a massive toothy grin. 

He laughs and hoists her up into what she calls a ’fly hug’, doing his usual three spins before setting her down and properly saying hi.

The other five advance in a bit more orderly fashion, namely not dropping bits of their costume, but it still takes a few minutes before the situation has properly calmed and they can actually assess the costumes.

There’s Em, still wrapped around Paul’s legs, who’s… well, either a ladybug or little red riding hood… or both? Valeria is a spider, Mateo is a wizard with an actual rabbit plushie peeking out from under his top hat, Ina is all green with big black eyes painted on, so she’s probably… well, either a frog or a little green girl from Mars. Xena, true to her name, is a little warrior princess, though a lot more bundled up, and Gi is the most adorable little pumpkin.

They wrangle the kids inside and manage to make sure that all the boots and jackets end up in the entrance area in an approximately orderly fashion. Paul makes hot chocolate while Hugh supervises the kids deciding on their pumpkins - and keeps the carving devices safely out of reach until everyone is actually happy with their pumpkin.

Em needs a lot of help, simply because she’s still so young, but she also chose the biggest pumpkin, so Paul has a lot on his plate with that, and Mateo and Xena are his, too.

 

 

 

 

“Let me help you!” Mateo offers immediately once Paul makes to don his costume for trick or treating. He’s a vampire, this year same as every other year Hugh has known him. He assumes it’s because Paul actually likes having the fake teeth in his mouth. And he knows that it is also because Paul likes clacking them at him and pretending to bite him with them. Unfortunately for Paul, Hugh needs to be pretty drunk to let him do that.

Paul obligingly bends down to let Mateo first bump his top hat into Paul’s nose and then fasten his cloak until it looks uncomfortably tight around Paul’s neck. Still, Paul says, “Thank you,” and straightens again, observing their small posse of very professional trick-or-treat’ers.

“You forgot your teeth!” Ina says, holding them up for him.

“Oh, right! Paul puts them in and clacks them at her. “Genk yu. Sha’ we?”

 

 

 

 

It’s pretty cold outside, even for the season, but it’s not like the kids notice, with how excited they are. Hugh and Paul have a pretty hard time keeping up with them, and especially keeping all of them together and also making sure no costume parts go missing. 

They go a bit further than they’d planned, and when finally the kids agree to go back, it’s a bit further than they’d expected, and their fierce little group suddenly has nothing but cold, achy feet, lots of tiredness and, (almost) most importantly, hunger. For sweets, obviously.

Paul may or may not have to carry Em.

 

 

 

 

“That was a lot of fun,” Hugh says softly.

Paul spits out the toothpaste and rinses.

“We should do that again next year. And… if you want to, definitely with kids from your side of the family as well.”

“No.” Paul wipes his mouth and doesn’t look at Hugh.

Okay, odd.

Hugh touches his shoulder, gently but firmly, running his fingers over the ridge of Paul’s trapezius. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just…” Paul turns to face him with a pensive expression. “It was nice. I don’t want my family to intrude… or to get a piece of that. I really enjoyed today.” He leans into Hugh’s hand that’s now cupping his cheek and closes his eyes. “I really, really did. I love the kids, I love… well, I love dressing up… carving pumpkins… going trick-or-treating. I really enjoyed all of that. It makes, um, it makes, I guess it makes this cold season feel so much warmer when you have people and kids to spend it with, and make and have traditions with.”

“Right. Well, we should do it again next year then.”

“Mhm.” Paul smiles, eyes still closed, turning his head further into Hugh’s palm. “I also understand why you wanted to become a doctor now.”

“Uh… which part of overtaxing your wrist while carving pumpkins or smearing sticky fake blood over your face makes you understand why I want to help people?”

“The pumpkin part.”

“Oh? Elaborate, please?”

“Squishy.”

When Hugh responds only with stunned silence, Paul opens his eyes again.

“You know, pumpkins are squishy on the inside, as are humans, and sticking your hand into all the pumpkin squish feels… kind of good.”

“Oh my god.” Hugh drops his hand.

“Hey! It’s just… it’s nice. Feels good on my fingers.”

Hugh shakes his head, trying to tamper down on his exasperation and, oddly enough, the incredible amount of utter fondness that’s trying to blossom forth. “Paul, if I didn’t love you so much, you would _so_ be sleeping on the couch tonight. Jesus.”

Paul snatches the discarded vampire fangs from the vanity and clacks them at Hugh. “Happy Hallowe’en, dear husband.”

“Absolutely not.” Hugh pushes Paul’s hand aside and of course finds himself pulled into a sweet little kiss. 

 

 

 

 

They double check that all the candles and lights are out and off so nobody tries to ring the bell for trick or treat when they’re already asleep, and then they fall into bed, a great deal more exhausted than they thought they’d be. Paul wraps himself around Hugh, Hugh tells the bedroom lights to go off, Paul presses his customary good-night-kiss against Hugh’s naked shoulder - wait. Fucking teeth.

“Paul,” Hugh growls.

“Showwy.”

Some drool dribbles on Hugh’s shoulder, there’s that gross little sound of Paul taking them out, then thin plastic audibly hits the floor and Paul gives Hugh a still wet but thoroughly teethless kiss. “To many more happy Hallowe’ens.”

“To many more happy Hallowe’ens where I don’t get bitten with plastic teeth,” Hugh amends, squeezing Paul’s hand in his.

 

 

 

 

Paul eats candy for breakfast. Paul has to call in sick to work.

Hugh also eats candy for breakfast. Hugh also has to call in sick to work.

They’re adults, after all.


End file.
